Biogeosciences

Manuscript Submission

First Steps

Before the actual submission of a manuscript to the Editorial Support Office for peer-review, the author is kindly requested:

• to study the General Terms and the Service Charges for this journal,
• to study the Manuscript Preparation for this journal,
• to agree and obey the General Obligations for Authors,
• to register his/her manuscript  in order to receive a manuscript number (ms_no, e.g. BG-2007-0001) for preparing the files of his/her publication in the way outlined below before their actual submission, and to receive a link for uploading their manuscript files directly into the COSIS system. The registration also defines the manuscript subject areas and index terms as the basis for the editor assignment (see below).

File Submission for Review Process

After the manuscript registration, authors are kindly asked to upload those files which are necessary for the peer-review process. These are at least the abstract and the complete manuscript, both as *.pdf.

Please use the following naming conventions:

• The abstract (sample ) named ms_no-ab.pdf (e.g. BG-2007-0001-ab.pdf)
• The complete manuscript (abstract, text, tables, figures) named ms_no-ms.pdf (e.g. BG-2007-0001-ms.pdf)
• Any supplementary material (if available) as *.zip archive or single *.pdf file named ms_no-sp1.zip (e.g. BG-2007-0001-sp1.zip)
• The author's response, in case of "minor" or "major" revisions requested by the editor (email notification to the author), as a separate file (*.pdf) named ms_no-rp.pdf (e.g. BG-2007-0001-rp.pdf)

File Submission for Production Process

After the acceptance of a manuscript, authors will be informed by email and are kindly asked to complete the file upload for the publication production process. Then, please submit the following files using the respective naming conventions:

• The actual text followed by the table(s) and figure caption(s) prepared in the way as outlined in the Manuscript Preparation as one file (LaTeX format *.tex or MS WORD format *.doc) named ms_no-tx.doc (e.g. BG-2007-0001-tx.doc)
• The figures f01, f02, ..., f11, f01a, f01b, ... prepared in the way as outlined in the Manuscript Preparation in separate files (*.pdf, *.ps, *.eps, *.jpg, *.png, *.tif, *.gif) named ms_no-f01a.pdf (e.g. BG-2007-0001-f01a.pdf)

Editor Assignment

Copernicus Publications has established an innovative Electronic Editorial Support Office to automate the selection of editors and referees for submitted manuscripts. The Electronic Editorial Support Office reduces to a minimum the time that a paper spends in review. Editors are selected to handle a manuscript based on the manuscript subject areas and index terms chosen by the authors. Because BG has many editors, papers are normally handled by a scientist with a high degree of specialist knowledge of the submitted work. There are two index term categories: Subject Area and Research Area. At least one index term must be selected for each category. Optionally, a second index term may be selected for one or more of the categories. The BG Electronic Editorial Support Office will assign the most appropriate editor based on the best match of first and second choice index terms and available editors. Manuscripts will usually be assigned to an editor whose subject areas match the selected index terms. If, however, none of these editors is available, also other competent members of the editorial board may help out and process the submission.

Immediately after submission of a manuscript, the Electronic Editorial Support Office sends an email request to every editor whose subject areas match the first choice index terms. Based on the manuscript information and abstract, the addressed editorial board members are asked to act as the responsible editor for the new submission. As soon as one of them accepts the task, he/she is assigned as the editor for this submission and receives the complete manuscript. The authors are informed accordingly.

If none of the initially addressed editors accepts the task within two days, the request is repeated. After two more days the request is extended to editors whose subject areas match the second choice index terms, again with a repetition after two days. Eight days after the submission, the request is extended to all members of the editorial board and repeated until an appropriate editor has been assigned.